“I’ll Play Now”

On 23 June 1973, Borussia Mönchengladbach played 1. FC Köln in the final of the German Cup. Coach Hennes Weisweiler had left Günter Netzer on the bench. The score was 1 to 1 after ninety minutes. Before extra time, by Netzer’s own account, he told Weisweiler: Ich spiele dann jetzt. I’ll play now.

He came on. In the 93rd minute, his first touch was a pass to his teammate Bonhof. Bonhof played the ball back, and Netzer scored the winning goal, 2 to 1.

Afterwards, Netzer told the press that Weisweiler had agreed. Fifty years later, the sports broadcaster Sport1 called this a charming fib. Weisweiler let it look as if the coach were still the boss, but inside he was boiling.

Useful Illegality

In 1964, the sociologist Niklas Luhmann published his book Funktionen und Folgen formaler Organisation, functions and consequences of formal organization. One of its chapters is titled Brauchbare Illegalität, useful illegality. The term describes rule-breaking that helps an organization to work. Organizational sociologists still use it as the technical term for such rule-breaking.

In 2015, the sociologist Stefan Kühl applied the term to the emissions scandal in his paper Volkswagen ist überall, Volkswagen is everywhere. He wrote that generous readings of the law and small departures from rules are functional for an organization, and are therefore tolerated. In his view, Volkswagen’s leadership did not fail because of these everyday departures. It failed because it managed its useful illegalities unprofessionally.

Who Pays for a Mistake at Work

In German labor law, an employee’s liability for damage he causes at work depends on how careless he was. The rule comes from the courts. In 1994 the Grand Senate of the Federal Labor Court applied it to all work caused by the business, even work that is not dangerous. For the slightest negligence, the employer bears the damage alone, as part of the general business risk. For medium negligence, employer and employee share it. For gross negligence and intent, the employee must in principle pay for all of it.

Unreasonable Instructions Need Not Be Followed

German labor law lets the employer direct the work, but only within billiges Ermessen, fair discretion. Since a ruling in 2012, the Federal Labor Court had held that an employee must follow even an unfair instruction until a court has ruled on it.

On 14 June 2017, the court’s Tenth Senate said it would decide otherwise. An employee need not follow an unfair instruction, not even for the time being. In September 2017, the Fifth Senate gave up its earlier view.

The case was about an employee whom his employer had transferred from Dortmund to Berlin. Since 2017, employees may refuse an instruction they consider unfair. They carry a risk. If a court later finds the instruction fair, they lose their pay for the time they refused to work. Even a dismissal without notice may be upheld.

Corridors for Action and Decision

The German Medical Association distinguishes two kinds of medical rules. Richtlinien rest on a legal basis. Leitlinien, clinical guidelines, do not. The association defines them in one sentence. Leitlinien sind als Handlungs- und Entscheidungskorridore zu verstehen, von denen in begründeten Fällen abgewichen werden kann oder sogar muss. Guidelines are to be understood as corridors for action and decision, from which a doctor may, or even must, depart in justified cases.

Between Trust and Control

In summer 2021, the staffing firm Hays and the Rheingold institute surveyed 750 managers in companies in Germany with more than 100 employees. The topic was leadership when staff work from home. 61 percent said they already follow more closely when, how and how many employees work. 58 percent set more requirements and give out smaller work steps.

The study was titled Zwischen Vertrauen und Kontrolle, between trust and control. It was carried out during the pandemic.

The Daily Scrum

Daily Scrum ist die meistgenutzte agile Technik. The daily Scrum is the most used agile technique. This was a finding of the study Status Quo Agile 2017 by Koblenz University of Applied Sciences and the project management association GPM. The daily Scrum is the team’s daily status meeting.

More than 1,000 people from over 30 countries took part in the study. Most of the responses came from business units located in Germany. The question on techniques was answered by people who work with agile methods.

Among these users, the daily status meeting was the most widely adopted practice.

Every Three Years

Every Max Planck institute has a Fachbeirat, a board of outside experts who review its work. The board meets alle drei Jahre, every three years, and in some cases more often. It assesses the quality and originality of the research and whether the strategy and the resources fit. It does so in beratender Funktion, in an advisory role.

Every six years, there is an extended review. It looks at related institutes in one research field together.

Once a Year With the Boss

In a survey commissioned by the Königsteiner Gruppe and published in July 2025, 1,073 employees in Germany were asked about the Mitarbeitergespräch, the formal talk with their manager. Seven in ten are invited to such a talk at least once a year. 18 percent have no such talk at all. Only 22 percent have this talk every month or every quarter.

A 2025 report by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB) found structured staff talks in a little over 70 percent of private firms with 50 or more employees, both in 2012 and in 2023. It describes the performance appraisal as meist jährlich, mostly annual.

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